Kent Birding Highlights for October 2025

                                              WORTH MARSHES  

                                                     2nd October

Been a very busy birding month for me , no new species this month but some quality species seen.

                                             

Red necked Phalarope  (Photo from 2022)

A visit to Worth Marshes was successful on the 2nd October with good scope views of a 1st winter Red necked Phalarope which was recently found by Martyn Wilson (great find Martyn).

It was doing what Phalaropes do , constantly spinning around in circles and feeding off the surface of water it had disturbed.

A little bit to far for a photo so i have used one from a trip to Pett Level in 2022.

SANDWICH  BAY 

Spotted Crake.

Also on the 2nd i headed to Sandwich Bay to visit the Dragonfly Pool to catch up with the very showy Spotted Crake.

Spotted Crake.

This bird showed very well and gave some excellent photographic opportunity's , it was especially impressive watching the Spotted Crake creeping through the reeds & foliage feeding unbothered by it's adoring onlookers.

Spotted Crake creeping through the reeds.

ANCIENT HIGHWAY

6th October

Covey of Grey Partridge.

A drive along the Ancient Highway between Deal & Sandwich produced a covey of 20+ Grey Partridge.

PEGWELL BAY

♂ Greater Scaup

From the Ancient Highway to Pegwell Bay in the hope of seeing the ♂ Greater Scaup was very successful as the Greater Scaup showed well close in.

We also saw a dark phased Arctic Skua resting on the sea & eventually chasing a Sandwich Tern over the point.

Another unexpected  bonus bird was a Pink footed Goose which was close in with the Wigeon.

Pink footed Goose with Wigeon.

Both the Greater Scaup & Pink footed Goose were new birds for my Thanet bird list.

OARE MARSHES

7th October

Clouded Yellow

A quiet walk around Oare Marshes on the 7th produced several Cattle Egrets & a Water Rail at Dan's Dock plus 2 Clouded Yellows along the seawall on the West side.

CHAMBERS  WALL

Record shot of the Pallid Harrier

From Oare Marshes we headed to Chambers Wall to try and catch up with the Pallid Harrier.

We spent an hour scanning from the railway embankment without success, then there was a report that the Pallid Harrier was seen near the fisherman's car park, we headed there but was to late, gave it another hour then time caught up with us and we had to leave, thankfully AE picked it out high above the farm on the way back to the car.

RECULVER   CARAVAN   PARK

13th October

Another trip to the Reculver area on the 13th, this time for a Raddes Warbler , unfortunately no luck with this superb bird which was a great find by MH.

I did have decent views of a Yellow Browed Warbler which was also found by MH.

Yellow Browed Warbler

WORTH MARSHES

16th October

Great Grey Shrike

I couldn't resist the chance to look for the Great grey Shrike that had been found at Worth Marshes.

I walked out to Roaring Gutter and after about 25 minutes i finally connected with this cracking bird.

Great Grey Shrike.

I also saw a Spoonbill feeding in a pool near Pinnock walk & a single Ruff on Minnis Flood.

Spoonbill

KING GEORGE VI PARK

18th October

Yellow browed Warbler (photo from Shetland)

A trip to King George VI park on the 18th was very good indeed , i saw  3 Yellow Browed Warblers & 2 Firecrests plus my main target bird Pallas's Warbler.

Pallas's Warbler  (photo from Swalecliffe in 2023)

As you can see by my use of previous photo's i failed miserably with the camera today.

MARGATE   CEMETERY

20th October

Red Flanked Bluetail  (Photo from Flamborough)

Margate Cemetery isn't one of  my most successful sites for birding , more dips then ticks to be honest & this trip looked like going the same way as i spent over 2 hours looking for the Red Flanked Bluetial without a sniff !!!

Anyway eventually the gods aliened and i got a glimpse of the RFB high up in the canopy !! 

The above photo taken at Flamborough was pretty mush the view i got but very briefly. Other birds seen were 2 Yellow Browed Warblers & a single Firecrest.

RECULVER TOWERS  (Seawatch)

23rd October

A very wet & windy seawatch on the 23rd  started off with great views of a close in juv Arctic Tern  (5 in total), there were 2 Arctic Skuas (both DP).

I picked up a Swift species flying in along the coast which eventually flew towards the caravan park behind the Towers, difficult to clinch any real ID , it look blunt winged & quite bulky , i didn't notice any moult in the wings , probable Pallid Swift was mentioned but all that were present agreed not a good enough view to be sure.

We picked up a probable juv Long Tailed Skua on the sea a very long way out towards Minnis Bay, eventually it flew towards the bay & out of view. 

LOCAL    WOODLAND

28th October

Siskin

A walk around a local woodland on the 28th produced 10+ Siskins, 2 Redpolls & 40+ Common Crossbills plus several Coal Tits & Goldcrests were heard.

Common Crossbill.